To the Citizens of McDonough County, Reliable ambulance service is one of the most important public services any community can have. When a medical emergency happens, response time, trained personnel, and dependable equipment can make the difference between life and death. Our county now faces the challenge of ensuring that ambulance service remains strong, stable, and available for every resident— both in Macomb and throughout our rural communities.
Like many rural areas, we face rising costs, staffing shortages, aging equipment, and increasing demand for emergency medical care. Ambulance systems today cannot survive on billing revenue alone. Medicare, Medicaid, and insurance reimbursements often do not fully cover the real cost of providing 24-hour emergency readiness. Relying on yearly financial rescues or hoping the problem resolves itself is not a sustainable path.
We must begin viewing ambulance service as essential infrastructure—just like roads, law enforcement, and fire protection. It requires long-term planning, dependable oversight, and stable funding.
Several practical solutions deserve serious public discussion: Create a countywide EMS authority or oversight board focused solely on ambulance service and accountable to the public.
Establish predictable funding through a modest countywide tax levy, public safety funding source, or intergovernmental support model.
